All Forum Posts by: Mason Hickman

@Marin Ivankovic

I’m Intrigued. When I was doing my research, I know this is one of the best towns in MA with good rent to price ratios.

My biggest concern is the population decline. North Adams is down almost 12% since 2000. What are your thoughts on that and how will long term outlook be for the town?

What are your economics of the deal? (Purchase price, amount spent in renovations, monthly rent?)

@Annette Grotheer

The big thing that would keep you from doing this would be the zoning. Do you know if your zoning would allow for this. I think the LTR may have a problem if you sprung it on them, however, it sounds like you don't have a LTR yet so you could discuss it when you're interviewing tenants. I think fencing it off would make sense, especially if you intend to allow animals or if it is a small area. 

@Maryann L.

Congratulations! What's your plan for the property now that you've purchased?

@Luke Dixon

You’ll need to network with commercial brokers in your target markets. A lot of the deals never make it to loopnet because brokers will shop them to their existing distribution lists or post to their own websites.

@Kristy Good

It depends on the class of property and it can be entirely dependent on the tenants. Some will call you about every little thing and others will never call you and manage themselves well. During the turnover and lease-up, I’d plan to be there more and then it should really be minimal on a go-forward basis. I would suggest you find a handyman to deal with nuisance calls and then you can really cut your time commitment down.

@Garett McKenzie

Seems like your head is in the right spot looking to get a house hack. Before going any deeper, you should run the numbers through the rental calculator and see if it would even be a property worth buying. Seller financing on a lousy deal won’t do you any good.

@Frank Agyeman-Duah

You didn’t mention where the property is located. A property built in 1890 is almost guaranteed to have lead paint in it. Make sure you’re familiar with the lead paint regulations in your state and the property will be able to be used for your intended purposes without additional repairs.

For example: here in Massachusetts we need to abate all lead if we intend to rent out long term to families with children under 6 or if we have a kid of our own. You can not have tenants waive this and abatement is required.

@Akmal Wazeer

Pick a state that you’ll like living in and preferably one that has no state income taxes.

States with no income taxes:

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

@Jonathan Bombaci

I would try to save it; storage space is always in need at a rental and can be a differentiator. Plus, if it’s grandfathered in and you can’t build it again, you will take away the value a future buyer might have.

My wife and I recently bought a duplex and the detached garage was a big factor that allowed us to make it work for our house hack.

Hi all, 

I'm trying to gather data for how individual lenders are handling forbearance. I'm particularly interested in learning which lenders are allowing forbearance but are not adding the payments on to the end of the term but are, instead, going to have a balloon payment or increased monthly payments. 

Please share your experiences!